30 December 2015

Within the 1st A350 delivery ceremony on 18/Dec, TAM
announced that their 4th A350-900 to be delivered in Jun/2016 (6
aircraft are planned to be delivered in 2016) will be the 1st aircraft of its
fleet equipped with a Premium "Economy Plus" class.

This aircraft will be the 1st true LATAM A350,
which will carry a new livery to reflect the unified brand.

The aircraft will be configured in a premium three-class
layout, with 339 seats, comprising 30 Business Class, 63 Premium Economy Plus
and 246 Economy.

The first 3 A350-900s of TAM have a cabin configuration with
348 seats; 30 forward-facing business
class seats in “Premium Business” cabin and 318 in Economy.

The Business class seats are arranged in a 2-2-2 layout and
they can convert into a fully-flat bed.

TAM Airlines is scheduling the last delivery of their 21+6
A350-900 & A350-1000 in 2021.

All pictures. Source: Airbus

Based on the
article “TAM Airlines aura six Airbus A350-1000 et une classe Premium”
published in Air Journal.

28 December 2015

Nimrod Group is progressing with recruitment of staff and the final
preparations for the opening of a new industrial plant in Poland.

The new factory will support the ramp-up of the A350 producing sheet
metal parts for Stelia Aerospace Tier1. Azura Polska site is located in Łódź.

Nimrod Group, a French tier2, announced last September their intention
to open a new facility in Poland after receiving the invitation from Airbus
Group Poland “to support long-term industrial strategy” linked to the
discussions concerning the H225M Caracal helicopter offsets.

The 1st long-term agreement with Stelia Aerospace is a contract of more
than 3 million hours of work, ensuring a stable and technically advanced jobs
in Azura Polska until at least 2024.

Azura Polska site is planned to generate 200 to 300 new direct jobs and the
initial investment of 1 million€ has been already completed including
purchasing of equipments and machines that will be installed at the factory
starting in January/2016.

Based on the article “Azura Polska rozpocznie produkcję części do
samolotu Airbus A350” published in BiznesAlert.

27 December 2015

The LATAM Airlines Group revealed last week a partial
conversion of its order of Airbus A350-900; 6 of 27 ordered A350-900s have been
replaced by 6 A350-1000.

Within the 1st A350 delivery ceremony on 18/Dec,
LATAM announced that they had converted "in September of this year" 6
orders for the largest model, the A350-1000, "by reason of its superior
ability".

José Zaidan Malus, Vice President of fleet and engines of
LATAM, explained that "we are always very attentive to the context,
adjusting the fleet renewal plan in order to obtain an optimal allocation of
aircraft for each market.”

The entry into service of the A350-900 is scheduled 25/January
from the base of TAM Airlines at Sao Paulo-Guarulhos to Manaus-Eduardo Gomes
Airport on 1 of the 3 daily flights.

She will flight in March to Miami and on 4/April to Madrid.

All pictures. Source: Airbus

Based on the
article “TAM Airlines aura six Airbus A350-1000 et une classe Premium”
published in Air Journal.

26 December 2015

The European
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is giving operators of the Airbus
A350 until 11/Jan to begin daily post-flight checks of the aircraft’s 2 inboard
ailerons to verify that the electro-hydrostatic actuators (EHAs) that drive the
roll-control surfaces are working properly.

The AD (Airworthiness
Directive) issued by EASA requires repetitive post-flight checks (activation)
of each inboard aileron EHA and, in case of failure, replacement of the
affected EHA with a serviceable one.

The interim
action required by the AD (Airworthiness Directive) specifies that since 28/Dec
until 11/Jan and, thereafter, during each flight day, but not exceeding 2
flight cycles, it is needed to accomplish a post-flight activation procedure on
each inboard aileron EHA in accordance with the instructions of Airbus AOT
A27P007-15-00.

Source: Moog

If, during
any EHA activation the message “F/CTL INR AILERON ELEC ACTUATOR” is triggered,
before next flight, it will be mandatory to accomplish the troubleshooting
procedure on the affected EHA in accordance with the instructions of Airbus AOT
A27P007-15-00.

If the
failure remains, before next flight, it will be needed to replace the affected
EHA with a serviceable one.

Further
analysis and testing by Airbus determined that in such cases the switch from
damping to active mode did not occur, preventing the activation of the EHA.

This failure
corresponds to a scenario called ‘’spurious damping’’ and can be detected only
when the EHA is activated.

As a
consequence, the EHA will not be able to take over in case of adjacent servo
control failure or yellow hydraulic failure.

This
condition, if not detected and corrected, and combined with other failures could result in loss of control of inboard
aileron potentially resulting in inability to ensure sufficient control on
the roll axis of the aeroplane.

25 December 2015

SriLankan Airlines CEO Suren Ratwatte said his airline
is planning to review an existing widebody order with Airbus to incorporate
more suitable narrowbody jets instead.

“However we must re-look at the aircraft order since the order is for
wide-bodied aircraft that could carry more passengers," he said.

"What SriLankan currently needs is narrow-bodied aircraft,
that could be easily filled with passengers.”

The state-backed carrier inked a firm order agreement with Airbus for
4 A350-900s and 6 A330-300s in 2013.

The deal, however, is now subject to a government inquiry
after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed there had been irregularities
in its flotation.

As part of its Red-to-Black restructuring programme, SriLankan is expected to
shift focus away from longhaul operations in Europe and Australia and focus
instead on the growing Chinese and Indian markets.

All pictures. Source: Maew Spotter

Based on the article “SriLankan planning to revise Airbus
order” published in ch-aviation

24 December 2015

One
of the biggest downsides to a long-haul flight is waiting for your body to
readjust to the new time zone once you touch down.

Source: Airbus

But
Airbus and Qatar Airways think they might have found a solution to the
perennial jetlag problem with their latest aircraft.

Source: Airbus

The
A350 XWB comes with a variety of improvements designed to minimize that groggy
feeling you get from flying halfway around the world.

One
of the main innovations is a system of LED lights inside the cabin that are
designed to change color to mimic the Sun's natural glow - and they're
programmed to fit in with our bodies' natural circadian rhythms no matter what
the actual time is.

What's
more, the plane's filtering system refreshes the air inside the cabin every 2
or 3 minutes, and keeps it pressurized at the equivalent of an altitude of
1,828.8 meters (6,000 feet).

Again,
Airbus says this improves passengers-comfort and minimize the effects of jetlag
once they step back onto the ground.

In
terms of passenger comfort, the economy seats are a little wider and a little
further apart, and it's easier to get down the aisles.

The
interior design of the cabin can be adapted by individual airlines, depending
on how they want to make use of the space (and how many business class
passengers they're expecting).

"The
design process was about optimization, pushing the constraints, and opening up
the box of solutions," said Alain De Zotti, chief engineer of the A350 XWB
program.

"We're
trying to make the jet relevant for the future. There's an open architecture
that can evolve to welcome new functions and can cope with the evolution of
technology."

Based
on the article “This new Airbus carbon fibre plane is designed to beat jetlag”
published in Science Alert

22 December 2015

The first delivery of the A350 to Qatar Airways was delivered
one year ago on 22/December/2014 in a ceremony held at Toulouse.

In one year, deliveries have been nearly as planned; 13
aircraft delivered to 4 operators in 4 continents.

Source: Jujug Spotting

After Qatar Airways, the 2nd A350 operator who
received an aircraft was Vietnam Airlines (AERCAP) on June. The 3rd
operator was Finnair in October and in December, some days ago, Brazilian TAM
has been the 4th operator.

Source: Airbus

Regarding deliveries, in Q1/2015 there was 1 A350 delivered
to Qatar. In Q2/2015 there were delivered 3 aircraft as planned, to Qatar (2 in
May and June) and to Vietnam Airlines (June).

The main issues appeared in the Q3/2015 deliveries as only 1
aircraft was delivered (to Vietnam Airlines-CIT in September). No deliveries in
July and in August.

Source: Jujug Spotting

In the last 3 months of the year the situation improved with
4 deliveries in October (Finnair, Vietnam Airlines-AERCAP and 2 for Qatar
Airways), 1 A350 delivered in November to Qatar and 3 deliveries in December to
Vietnam Airlines, Finnair and TAM.

Deliveries

Q1/2015:1 delivery

Q2/2015:3 deliveries

Q3/2015:1 deliveries

Q4/2015:8
deliveries

13 deliveries to
4 customers in 4 continents.

Concerning orders, 2 cancellations have been confirmed; -7
aircraft by Singapore in July (officially “after a request by Airbus”) and -12
aircraft by Portuguese TAP in November (substituted by A330-900neo).

There have been 14 new orders in 2015 for A350-900: +1 by
ALS in June, +8 by Iberia in August, +1 by Air Caraibes in September and +4 by
Singapore in October.

Orders:

Q1/2015:0
orders

Q2/2015:+1
order

Q3/2015:+9
orders -7 cancellations

Q4/2015:+4
orders -12 cancellations

+14
orders-19 cancellations =-5(780à775)

No new Orders nor cancellations in the A350-800 (16 orders
from Aeroflot + Asiana) or in the A350-1000 (175 orders) in the complete year.

As of today, Airbus has recorded a total of 775 firm orders
from 41 customers worldwide.